Hello! It’s BannerThief, your boy, host of such famous breaking points for this community as the “Best Musical” tournament and the “Most Underrated Film” tournament. And we’re here to determine…which video game has the best story?

What does that mean? Is a story merely the cutscenes in between an otherwise disconnected series of gameplay moments? Is it the mechanics informing the narrative in meaningful, impactful ways? Is it the journey you, as a player, embark upon, with trials and travails, leading to a meaningful emotional catharsis for you and only you?

Yes!

A video game’s story can and has been all of these things, and we’re here to determine which one is the best by consensus voting!

Well, “best” as determined by a bunch of nerds who occupy a sequel site to a spin-off channel of an already niche pop culture website. That’s what makes these so exciting!

Ground Rules:

1) The sixteen participants will be arranged in 8 brackets according to their placement as determined by upvotes received during the second round.

2) Feel free to comment inside the competition comments; however, don’t respond to the top-level comments, as to avoid clutter.

3) Video games are art. Deal with it.

BONUS!

• BioWare coming out with strong opinions on all sides; Dragon Age: Origins narrowly beat Mass Effect 3, 27 to 26 (!), while Mass Effect 2 handily moves forward, leaving What Remains of Edith Finch in the dust. Could they be the studio to beat?
• Bioshock takes the title of Most Popular Game for Round 2, leaving previous dark horse Final Fantasy VII defeated with 42 votes to 23.
• Number 1 Seed The Last of Us continues to dominate, with the most lopsided victory out of the round. Poor Half Life 2. 🙁

Let’s do this.